Herring at the Old King's Highway Culvert
FRIENDS OF HERRING RIVER   March 2012          
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Friends of Herring River
P.O. Box 496
Wellfleet, MA 02667

Masthead photo by Lisbeth Wiley

Chapman, Peter Watts photo by Don Palladino,

Winterberry photo by Lisbeth Wiley chapman
2012 will be a busy year for Friends of Herring River.  We will be sending newsletter as often as we have new information for you.  Questions are always welcome.

Lisbeth Wiley Chapman, Editor
beth@friendsofherringriver.org
FHR CITIZEN SCIENTISTS GEAR UP AGAIN
    Herring Count Volunteers   Herring Counters visit Herring River near Herring Pond in Wellfleet
ANNUAL HERRING COUNT VOLUNTEER TRAINING MARCH 14, 10:30 A.M., WELLFLEET PUBLIC LIBRARY
55 West Main Street, Wellfleet

 

The 2012 Friends of Herring River Herring Count organizational meeting features two great guest speakers:
 
*  Abby Franklin -- Herring Happenings on the Cape and Beyond
Abby will give an overview of the life history and ecology of river
herring, and will describe the work taking place at the Cape Cod
Conservation District to improve fish passage across Cape Cod.  She
will also give an update on the activities of the newly formed "River
Herring Network" and on the efforts of the New England Fisheries
Management Council to quantify and prevent bycatch of river herring in
the Atlantic herring fishery.
   Abby is the Anadromous Fish Restoration Project Manager at
the Cape Cod Conservation District in Hyannis.
 
*  Jo Ann Muramoto will discuss our Herring River previous results and the status of the river herring endangered species petition.  Jo Ann is a senior scientist on staff at the Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

 

John Riehl, Board Member of FHR, will discuss how we will organize and the data reporting.  Each volunteer will be outfitted with a number clicker to count the herring sighted, and a thermometer to test the water temperature. Volunteers are asked to sign up for specific hours daily and weekly to count herring.

 

We are told that a zero sighting is statistically important, so even if you
do not see many herring (many of us hear them coming first) you can be sure that your trip to the count site at the corner of Black Pond Road and Old King's Highway will be interesting. The bird watchers among us love it.

For further information, please e-mail John Riehl at 

 

RETURN OF THE TIDES
 
Friends of Herring River has contracted with Moonshadow Media to produce a short video to educate the public about the value of a healthy salt marsh estuary and the expected benefits or restoring the historic tidal range in the Herring River.

 

Decades of environmental research have shown us that half of US coastal wetlands and salt marsh estuaries have already been lost to development and remaining systems are wedged precariously between inappropriate structures and a rising sea level. As we continue to witness climate change approaching our own doorstep, it is critical that these coastal systems are healthy and protected.

We expect the video to be available in late spring when the draft EIS/EIR is presented to the public for comment.

 

In addition, we are hopeful that the video will be shown at the Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters in Eastham at the Salt Pond Visitor's Center and the Race Point Visitor's Center in Provincetown.  It will also be available every day, in season, on an electronic bulletin board scheduled to be installed this spring at the Beach Sticker Office in Wellfleet.

Herring at the Old King's Highway Culvert

Herring at the count site, spring 2011  


Lazuli Bunting at Audubon
If you have not heard....
Birders have had a great winter here in Wellfleet.  A lost juvenile male Lazuli Bunting, blown here by winter winds, was identified at the bird feeders at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary/Mass. Audubon, delighting hundreds of visitors who came to see this little guy, still holding court as of 3/6/2012.
.
 

To reach Friends of Herring River, Contact Don Palladino -- Don@friendsofherringriver.org
 
To reach this newsletter editor, Lisbeth Wiley Chapman -- Beth@friendsofherringriver.org
 
For more informaton:  http://www.friendsofherringriver.org